State media reported on Saturday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reviewed images of “significant target areas” captured by the new spy satellite launched by his country.
These regions included South Korea’s capital Seoul and all the other cities that host US military bases.
Kim inspected the shots, along with other imagery captured of some areas within North Korea, during his visit to the control centre of the National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA) in Pyongyang on Friday (Nov 24), reported state news agency KCNA.
The pictures were taken as the satellite passed over the peninsula on Friday morning, said KCNA, which included captures of Seoul, and Mokpo, Kunsan, Pyeongtaek, Osan, where US and South Korean military bases are located.
“The NATA reported to Kim Jong Un on the plan for photographing the region of South Korean puppets and the additional fine-tuning process of the reconnaissance satellite,” the report said. That process would continue on Saturday, it said.
On Tuesday, Kim reviewed photographs of major US military bases in Guam.
State-run news agency KCNA said that Kim “watched the aerospace photos of Anderson Air Force Base, Apra Harbor and other major military bases of the US forces taken in the sky above Guam in the Pacific, which were received at 9:21 am on Nov 22”.
Top diplomats of US, Japan, South Korea discuss Pyongyang’s satellite launch
The top diplomats of the United States, South Korea and Japan discussed Pyongyang’s launch of the satellite over telephone conversation and condemned the move, the US State Department said on Friday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and Japan Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko “strongly condemned the (Nov. 21) launch for its destabilizing effect on the region,” the State Department said in a statement.
North Korea invited global condemnation after releasing a statement saying that it placed its first spy satellite in orbit for breaching UN resolutions that bar its use of technology applicable to ballistic projectile programs.